How Must Companies Handle New Iran Sanctions Targeting The Metals Sector?

The Metals Service Center Institute is grateful to Winston & Strawn, LLP for permission to use a blog post, written by Winston & Strawn Partner Cari Stinebower, in Connecting the Dots.

Stinebower explains the practical implications of new U.S. sanctions on Iran. On January 10, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order and identified as Specially Designated Nationals eight senior Iranian officials; 17 Iranian metals producers and mining companies; a network of three China- and Seychelles-based entities; and a vessel involved in the purchase, sale, and transfer of Iranian metals products, as well as in the provision of critical metals production components to Iranian metal producers.

The same day, the U.S. secretaries of State and Treasury conducted a press briefing that shed additional light on the sanctions conveying the United States Government’s intent to pursue secondary sanctions, work with the Swiss Government to develop a secure channel for humanitarian payments into and out of Iran, and provide authorizations for certain activity related to the investigation of the Ukrainian aircraft that was shot down on January 7, 2020 in Tehran.

Stinebower notes that “Given the focus on sanctioning Iranian businesses in the steel and iron sectors, non-Iranian businesses (including U.S. and European) will continue to be expected to institute supply chain transparency to mitigate against the risk of dealing with sanctioned Iranian sectors.”

Click here to read her full post.